Standing out in a crowd

[HermoineG]

Hi,

 

My question is directed to those who got in to the grad program! First of all, congratulations!

 

You have spent almost an entire year preparing for programs and applying and successfully interviewing.  Is there anything in particular you did which made you stand out? Do you have any words of wisdom for rest of us, who are either reapplying or planning to apply!

 

Thanks!

[rabbit2013]

There are TONS of factors at play when it comes to graduate admissions in psychology. There are many idiosyncrasies, and therefore what "worked" for one person will not necessarily work for another person. 

 

With that being said, here are some observations I have after my year applying (I applied to top-tier Social Psych PhD programs for starting in Fall 2014):

 

1) There is no substitute for quality research experience. Period. Applicants who made it to the interview stage were, for the most part, in their second year out of college (i.e., graduated in 2012 and were applying to start in 2014) and had been doing research full-time since graduating. I also fell into this category. Like me, most applicants who got interviews at top (social psych) programs had also conducted a two-year honors thesis project or at least some project that clearly demonstrated individual thought and contribution during undergrad. I had about four years of solid research experience total at the time I applied, and for most other (successful) applicants this was the rule rather than the exception. While I did meet some applicants who were still in college at the time of interviews, they were truly outstanding students and were in the minority. Programs need to know that you truly understand what doing research is all about, and having a proven track record of doing research speaks for itself.

 

2) Letters of recommendation matter a lot. A key way to stand out is to select recommenders who are research experts and who can and will write letters that clearly illustrate your proven research prowess and potential. I would personally caution against getting more than one letter of recommendation from professors who only know you in a classroom setting (i.e., through coursework  and not through research). Several professors I applied to work with later remarked that my "superlative" letters of recommendation really helped my application stand out. Similar to the point above, programs want to know that you know what research involves. If you cannot come up with at least two recommenders who know you in a research capacity and can vouch for you in that regard, that might be an indication that you should get some more research experience before applying. This may not be the case for everyone, but it's just my observation; this might also be different for clinical versus experimental psych, and Masters versus PhD programs.

 

3) Reach out to your contacts and perhaps even contacts-of-contacts. Get as much information and feedback as you can from people who were once in your shoes. About six or seven months before applications were due, I began contacting every grad student in my field that I knew and asked for advice and tips on the process. They were all incredibly generous with their time and expertise. Many were even kind of enough to share the Statements of Purpose that they had used in their applications and give me feedback on my drafts a few months later. Don't be shy about reaching out. The worst someone can say is no. And in science especially, a huge part of the discipline involves mentoring more junior researchers and reviewing other people's work; it's just part of being in the field, and grad students should know this (just make sure that you are gracious and reasonable with your requests). If you know a grad student in a program you're interested in, definitely talk to him or her and find out what's happening in the department (e.g., which professors are currently collaborating); these tips might really help you craft a very program-specific Statement of Purpose.

 

4) It's almost a cliche, but start writing your Statement of Purpose early and do tailor each application to each program. At several interviews, the professors interviewing me had annotated copies of my statement in their hands and would mention something I had written about from time to time. The statement should be clear, succinct, and compelling. Give yourself plenty of time for editing and getting feedback.

 

5) Applying to grad school can be pretty expensive. Not including the time spent doing research (which may often start or even remain an unpaid endeavor), studying for the GRE, writing applications, etc., paying for application fees (about $100 each) and sending GRE scores ($25 per school) adds up. You may also incur interview-related expenses (e.g., buying interview attire, paying for travel if the program doesn't cover that) or have to pay for conference attendance to help build your CV. It's just my two cents, but make sure you really know what you're getting into before shelling out that kind of money and time. If you are applying to a program that wants to see GRE scores in the 80th percentile or better, for instance, ask around and see how seriously they take that cutoff, and then perhaps retake the GRE if your score is not competitive. If you think you might not have enough research experience to be a competitive applicant, ask around and see if you should consider waiting a year or two.

 

There is so much more to say on this topic (e.g., what to do to stand out at the interview stage), but I hope this helps with the main components of the first few steps. Good luck to the Fall 2015 applicants, and please feel free to PM me if you have specific questions (particularly for social psych PhD programs).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[HermoineG]

Wow! Rabbit2013, I cannot thank you enough for this detailed reply! I am so glad I posted this question

 

Thanks for all the points, especially letter of recommendation and reaching out to fellow students! I will probably save your answer for my future reference

[xolo]

I have not been accepted and am not in Psychology but I will answer because I have spent a great deal of time on my application.  Rabbit has good advice. 

 

I have done little in the way of research but my SOP is presented in a way that shows my unique situation reflects the equivalent of research, at least at the experiential and primary source level.  I can't emphasize the SOP enough.  I must have revised mine at least 20 times over several months, often working full time on it.  Once I found my voice and my message I felt better that it was ready.  That was very difficult for me to achieve.  In my opinion you should not contact POI professors because it is a waste of their time and rude, unless you really know what you are doing!  I also have not done much customization of the SOP because my message does not change that much, I am who I am.  This is contrary to the common wisdom.

 

One comment about the ubiquitous department admin, who often has a title indicating they will facilitate and help you.  They sometimes are not really qualified to do this so be careful.  They are unfailingly helpful at the mechanics of applying.

 

In my case I have spent 2 years preparing because I went back to the classroom and self funded two years of study.  This activity is providing my LOR writers and it also has provided my mentor who is more valuable to me than gold, diamonds, and platinum.  The feudal university system is both good and bad, but one thing is certain, personal relationships are a lot of it, just like in any field, and I'm not sure I could readily suggest a better system. Take care of your relationships.

 

The GRE is a quaint test and a lot of fun but for languages is not very important, but as luck would have it I scored in the 98th percentile on verbal so don't have too much reason to worry (I am prone to being a worry wart).  Otherwise, I would be obsessing on it.

[Rose Tyler]

In my opinion you should not contact POI professors because it is a waste of their time and rude, unless you really know what you are doing!  I also have not done much customization of the SOP because my message does not change that much, I am who I am.  This is contrary to the common wisdom.

 

I'm getting ready to apply to clinical programs now so I'm not sure I can offer anything in way of advice, but I just wanted to disagree with this.

 

I've heard mixed things about emailing POIs, but I decided to go ahead with doing it anyway. It's only a waste of their time if you're emailing them with questions that are clearly answered on their or the program's website. For instance, I'm not contacting POIs that say they're taking a student on their lab website. One program has a list of accepting professors on their admissions page, so I'm not contacting those either. I am sending a concise paragraph to the ones that don't list that information. I'm already getting responses. So far I do have one professor that responsed with "I am definitely not taking a student for Fall 2015" and that's one less professor that I have to worry about. I have a couple programs that only have one or two professors I'd be a match for, so if they're both closed to incoming students then that's one application that I've saved. Only time will tell if it makes any difference.

 

As for the SOP, I've noticed that each program has different instructions and while most of them do have a lot of overlap, others ask for different things. I have one school asking for four separate essays on their application. My advice is to work out a rough draft, figure out what you want to say, and then personalize it for each school. At the very least you'll probably have to talk about the professors you want to work with and why you would be a good addition to their lab(s) and the program.

 

Also, start studying for the GRE early. I didn't and now I deeply regret it.

[Dedi]

I also have to disagree with contacting POIs. I think of it as networking; if they cannot take in students, there's a chance that they may collaborate on a project in the future.

There was particular POI that helped me in contacting other POIs. I had the chance to meet her at a conference, and she was very nice. She's not taking in grad students, but I'm keeping her in mind for a postdoc should I decide to go for one. Also, she may end up the "outside person" in my dissertation committee. You never know what may happen!

I cannot stress the importance of networking enough. We live in a world where networking is fast and easy. Take advantage of it. The mild annoyance of some professors does not outweigh the benefits of possibly having a POI advocate for your application.

[spunky]

i have to second the two people above me about how important it *IS* to contact your POIs. heck, even if you could meet them in person while maybe sitting in a class or something places a face in your application as opposed to some impersonal, anonymous piece of paper they're reading. 

 

i contacted my POI during an open talk he was giving and i made darn sure i made the best 1st impression i could so he would remember my name when i applied. and it paid off because now i'm his student

[rabbit2013]

I also agree that you SHOULD contact POIs in advance. In the sciences, at many universities your acceptance may depend on your POI having grant money to take you. Getting in touch before submitting an application not only gives the POI another chance to get to know you, but it enables you (the applicant) to decide whether to even apply. If I knew that, say, none of the three professors I was interested in working with at a given institution could take students, I might rethink putting my time into preparing an application for that university, not to mention spending money on the application fee and sending my GRE scores.

[xolo]

I said my view does not represent the common wisdom, but looking at the replies makes me wonder how carefully my post was read.  There was a much broader question posed by the OP.

[citypsych]

@eyepod: you are not in the psychology field, nor have you ever applied to programs in psychology. I'm sure you are familiar with your own field, but your response is not relevant for the app process in psychology. Please do not mislead applicants by posting about a process with which you are not familiar.

[xolo]

I don't think you know my background so I won't be offended by your ignorance, but I did post a disclaimer, did you notice that?  At least I identified my program, unlike your anonymity.  And most programs have much in common, so, yes, I think it was a helpful post.  Now, can we help the OP rather than needlessly attacking others?

[herroneuro]

I just wanted to weigh in here, since all of my apps are in clinical psych.

 

I think its relatively important to reach out to POIs (some schools require that you disclose if youve spoken to them) EARLY, rather than LATE. Around Aug/Sept schools will start posting (but only some schools...its insane how terrible the websites are for some of these places) if professors are taking students, but a lot of it depends on funding. You might hear that news from POIs you email early, but at least you're on their radar. Dont hammer away either.

 

I generally had good experiences emailing professors but close to the app deadline they definitely wont respond. The portals open 3 months before deadlines - dont act like an idiot and leave it to the last minute.

[C10H12N2O]

It seems like it's a little late to weigh in but what the hell I'll do it anyways.. I feel like e-mailing profs too early is a waste of time since their ability to accept a new student depends on a lot of factors (e.g., if their current students are going to finish their thesis & funding ext). To be clear what I mean by 'too early' is I wouldn't e-mail people 6 months in advance. I applied to four experimental psychology programs and two clinical psychology programs with due dates ranging from Dec 1st to Jan 15th and I sent out my initial e-mail to my POI's in early October. As said previously, I didn't ask questions that are answered on the university webpage or on the prof's website. I always stated my research interests and attached a CV. I got really good responses from everyone I e-mailed. If they asked me any additional questions I responded in a prompt manner to make sure that they knew I was serious about applying to them. I also e-mailed them after I officially applied to let them know that I had done so and listed them as my desired supervisor. I also let them know what external funding I applied to. I kept this e-mail brief but it seemed effective and everyone of my POI's sent me an e-mail along the lines of 'great looking forward to seeing your application.. OR... Great I'll keep and eye out for your application".

[psych face]

Wow, this got bumped from a few months back. What the hey-

I saw notes in some apps/websites that said something like  "DO NOT contact us (professors) we are busy and won't respond, it would be unprofessional to have contact with you prior to evaluation of applications" or something like that, which I thought was wierd but made it easier for me to make the decision not to bother people.

The one professor I did contact, due to something I was confused about concerning their program, made no response whatsoever. And that was a legitimate issue about clarity on their website. I shoudn't have bothered I guess, but that lack of response made me remove them as a potential POI because I wasn't able to figure out the problem.

 

However, after looking at how many people here admit to contacting POIs, I would probably have done so over the summer. Oh well. My apps are in. We'll see what happens.

[JoePianist]

Personally, I felt contacting POI's and receiving a response from them (even if it was a polite, generic form response) was very important to my application process of choosing the programs and POI's I would ultimately apply for. During the summer, I had my heart set on a certain mentor at a program whose research was truly fascinating to me. I emailed her back in September with a brief message expressing my interest. After a month, I never heard back, so I emailed her again in October. To this day, she still has yet to respond. I also emailed my back-up POI at this same program to express my interest, but she never replied either. To me, not hearing back from both professors at the same program was a HUGE red flag for me, so I had to drop this program from my application list.

 

Meanwhile, I received very friendly, personal, and prompt responses from POI's at other programs that I was initially unsure of applying to, and it was this interaction and attention to potential students that persuaded me to strongly pursue these programs. 

[fenestella]

I don't think the way a potential mentor responds to an email should affect your opinion of them. I say this because I applied for PhD programs in 2011 and emailed someone from Catholic University about accepting students for the Fall of 2012. He responded weeks later and in an extremely curt manner. I thought, "What a jerk!". Well, I didn't get accepted to their PhD program then, but I did get my MA from there and that same professor was my mentor. And I loved him! Absolutely love him. Dropping a school from my list because of that would have changed the whole course of my career. Now I'm applying to work with him again as a PhD student. I don't know, I think emails are tricky. And it's not worth putting that much weight on them. You're not going to get accepted because you sent an email or didn't send an email. I mean..come on. 

[Tolman's Rat]

There's a difference between being curt and not responding. One professor was curt but I know that is her way of communicating through information from some of my contacts--she's just very busy and efficient, but she did indicate that she would be willing to take students. However, I decided not to apply to two programs after not hearing back at all. I sent out a brief email basically asking whether they were accepting students, a line about my recent work, and letting them know they can contact me for any other info (CV, transcript, poster reprints). I mean, why would I apply if I don't know if they're accepting students? or if they can't bother to let me know that they are/aren't? With application fees as high as $110, I'm not committing that kind of money to a program when I don't know that I'll even be considered.

[fenestella]

Makes sense. Luckily, most professors now post online if they're accepting students or not. I think I only needed to email about 2 or 3 this time around..so that makes it easier at least. 

[Tolman's Rat]

Makes sense. Luckily, most professors now post online if they're accepting students or not. I think I only needed to email about 2 or 3 this time around..so that makes it easier at least. 

Yeah, it's definitely helpful. It obviously differs by school though. Only 2 of my 9 programs indicated whether faculty were accepting students. 

[JoePianist]

There's a difference between being curt and not responding. One professor was curt but I know that is her way of communicating through information from some of my contacts--she's just very busy and efficient, but she did indicate that she would be willing to take students. However, I decided not to apply to two programs after not hearing back at all. I sent out a brief email basically asking whether they were accepting students, a line about my recent work, and letting them know they can contact me for any other info (CV, transcript, poster reprints). I mean, why would I apply if I don't know if they're accepting students? or if they can't bother to let me know that they are/aren't? With application fees as high as $110, I'm not committing that kind of money to a program when I don't know that I'll even be considered.

 

Yes, this is exactly what I'm saying about the importance of POI's responding to emails from prospective students. Why would I waste my time, energy, and money applying for a program and mentor who never bother to contact me back, even with just a pre-prepared cut-and-paste response? I am totally understanding that professors are extremely busy, and in the very least, I would find a generic, pre-prepared response still acceptable. Although, I will admit that I give top-priority to programs and mentors who took the time to actually write a positive and personal response -- that tells me that these people are interested in me as an applicant, which gives me an incentive to really pursue them. 

 

I don't think the way a potential mentor responds to an email should affect your opinion of them. I say this because I applied for PhD programs in 2011 and emailed someone from Catholic University about accepting students for the Fall of 2012. He responded weeks later and in an extremely curt manner. I thought, "What a jerk!". Well, I didn't get accepted to their PhD program then, but I did get my MA from there and that same professor was my mentor. And I loved him! Absolutely love him. Dropping a school from my list because of that would have changed the whole course of my career. Now I'm applying to work with him again as a PhD student. I don't know, I think emails are tricky. And it's not worth putting that much weight on them. You're not going to get accepted because you sent an email or didn't send an email. I mean..come on. 

 

In my original post, I never said that an applicant would be guaranteed an acceptance letter if they sent or didn't send an initial email to their POI's. I only said that I personally felt it was important for me in my own application process. I feel cultivating some sort of connection with someone that I hope to invest the next 5-6 years with is extremely important in how I approach the application process.

Edited December 16, 2014 by JoePianist

[psych face]

Yeah, it's definitely helpful. It obviously differs by school though. Only 2 of my 9 programs indicated whether faculty were accepting students. 

 

I forgot about that issue - Personally, when I applied, several of my schools already had that information embedded into the application, so it was obvious who was and was not accepting. I guess that's just my lucky choice of schools.

 

Something else that may have made my school choices easier, as opposed to some of the concerns mentioned by others here, is that I only applied to schools that had several POIs that suited my interests, so fit with one particular person wasn't really an issue.

[gradchaser]

 

Something else that may have made my school choices easier, as opposed to some of the concerns mentioned by others here, is that I only applied to schools that had several POIs that suited my interests, so fit with one particular person wasn't really an issue.

 

That's not always a fail-safe method. I contacted 5 professors from a school that I was interested in and none of them were accepting graduate students! Must not have a lot of funding this year.

[psych face]

That's not always a fail-safe method. I contacted 5 professors from a school that I was interested in and none of them were accepting graduate students! Must not have a lot of funding this year.

 

Bummer, dude. I'm gonna assume that doesn't happen to me, while the suspense is allowing for this delusion.

[Wrellie]

I must say, I agree with JoePianist. I took two schools off my list since neither POI at either school bothered to respond to my email (sent in late October). While everyone is nervous about getting into grad school, I have absolutely no interest in spending the next 5 or 6 years of my life with you as a researcher if you can't even respond to a simple email asking if you are accepting students in your lab this year.

Edited December 20, 2014 by Wrellie

[VulpesZerda]

I'll chime in on the issue of POI contact - a couple programs mentioned on their websites that it was recommended to do this. I contacted those, plus the top 5 or 6 POIs on my list. I'm so glad I did, simply because I found out about a few of them retiring or not taking students. This saved me money and all the responses I received were very nice. I wouldn't want to apply to work with a professor that retired - that's probably an automatic rejection. But, I did not make contact with all ten programs. I ran out of time to dedicate to that process.

I look forward to following this thread for other ideas for standing out in the crowd - maybe for interviews. That's something I'm not sure how to pull off!